SA Rugby
The Vodacom Bulls have dismissed worries about the quality of their scrum ahead of this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby series.
Eyebrows were raised after Saturday’s pre-season loss to the Stormers, and while the team have pronounced themselves happy with their performance in the 26 / 19 loss, a question mark still hangs over the set piece.
The DHL Stormers have announced that Juan de Jongh has injured his knee and will miss 6 weeks of rugby.
In addition, Schalk Burger makes double news, being named the Captain of the side who will take on the Southern Kings on the weekend and with the further news that he wants to stay put in the Cape, at least till after the next World Cup.
A somewhat changed Southern Kings team will take to the field against the DHL Stormers under the leadership of Steven Sykes on Friday evening, says caretaker coach, Robbie Kempson.
Announcing the team at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Kempson said Sykes would take the role of captain this week, following an injury to Darron Nell’s elbow that has resulted in him being excluded from selection.
Cheetahs defence guru Michael Horak is convinced their defence will stand them in good stead in this year’s Super Rugby competition.
With only three tries conceded in 200 minutes during their pre-season games – against Shimlas, Kings and Pumas – Horak believes they are ready for the coming season.
The Cell C Sharks, through their very vocal Director of Rugby / Coach, Jake White, certainly bombards us with news on their endeavours!
It is reported that Tonderai Chavanga now trains with the Sharks squad, in an attempt to revive his Super Rugby aspirations.
In other news, Jake White describes Ryan Kankowski (Kanko) as a player with X-Factor.
Whilst the Cell C Sharks take on the Lions in a double-header of clashes at Ellis Park on Friday, the Sharks website have declared that the Cell C Sharks are ready for the season of Super Rugby.
South African forward Gerrit-Jan van Velze is to join Worcester from rival English Premiership side Northampton in the European off-season.
Africa’s top rugby administrators gathered in Cape Town on Tuesday for a three-day rugby conference, hosted by the South African Rugby Union (SARU), with the objective of ensuring effective rugby structures and growing the game across the continent.
Kenya will add an international flavour to the Vodacom Cup this year when they compete in this 17th annual edition of this national competition for the first time.
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) on Wednesday confirmed that Kenya will form part of the Vodacom Cup in the place of Argentina’s Pampas XV, Vodacom Cup champions in 2011.
Following the pre-season hit-out against Saracens on 25 January, the next challenge on the Cell C Sharks schedule is a double-header set of matches against the Lions at Ellis Park next Friday night.
Their preparations for Vodacom Super Rugby – aside from what they do on the training pitch and in the gym – involve just two warm-up games before the competition gets going. Their first match will be against the Bulls at Growthpoint KINGS PARK in two weeks’ time, and by the time the match kicks off, they would have had the two warm-ups to prepare.
The Southern Kings will have to appoint a new captain for the game on Friday when they take on the DHL Stormers (in a pre-season Super Rugby warm-up game for the Stormers) at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
Four Varsity Cup matches were played on Monday 3 February in Round 1 of the 2014 season.
We were entertained by some good and interesting rugby, some surprise results and of course we had a chance to see some new innovations in action, the double referee-system, grip patches on prop jerseys and the Free Catch Rule.
The biggest upset of the day was the big loss by 2013 finalists, Maties… or should I say the big win by a spirited Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU Madibaz), by 45 / 29.
Defending champions, Tuks (University of Pretoria), were also lucky to escape with a 18 / 18 draw against UJ (University of Johannesburg).
In the 2 non-televised matches, Pukke (North-West University), comfortably dealt with UCT (University of Cape Town), beating them by 47 / 24, whilst in Bloemfontein Shimlas (University of the Free State) cruised past Wits and beating them 31 / 15.
Tuks (18) 18 / 18 (18) UJ (Final Score)
The University of Pretoria (FNB Tuks) and University of Johannesburg (FNB UJ)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at Tuks Stadium, Pretoria at 19:00 SA Time (17:00 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Victor Matfield has revealed his ambitions to coach the Springboks in future.
Southern Kings stand-in coach Robbie Kempson feels his charges require a major “mind-shift” or they won’t convert close defeats into victories.
The Kings have been “competitive” in back-to-back outings against Super Rugby franchises – losing 21-36 to the Cheetahs last week, before running the Lions even closer (a 12-19 loss) this past weekend.
The Vodacom Bulls loose forward Arno Botha has been ruled out of rugby for at least six months after picking up an ACL injury against the DHL Stormers in Saturday’s season opening friendly in Polokwane, team doctor Org Strauss confirmed on Monday.
The injury, which will see Botha miss most of the 2014 Vodacom Super Rugby season, came in his first match back after injuring the same knee in June last year, which ruled him out of the rest of the 2013 season.
NMMU (21) 45 / 29 (0) Maties (Final Score)
The Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (FNB NMMU) and University of Stellenbosch (FNB Maties)
did battle in the Varsity Cup at NMMU Stadium, Port Elizabeth at 16:45 SA Time (14:45 GMT).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & SHD on TV in SA.
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Lions coach Johan Ackermann will be sweating over the fitness of two key players, following his team’s 19-12 win over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth at the weekend.
With their final pre-season outing, before their return to Super Rugby in a fortnight, against the Sharks at Ellis Park on Friday, the last thing Ackermann needed was serious injuries.
However, both fullback Andries Coetzee and lock Rudi Matthee looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
Victor Matfield made his return to the playing field, but it was not enough to prevent the Stormers recording an impressive 26-19 win at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
The Super Rugby pre-season outing in Polokwane was a double blow for the Bulls, who will also be concerned about another knee injury suffered by star loose forward Arno Botha, the extent of which is knot known at this juncture, although it seemed a serious injury.
It was a strong second half performance and a late try that secured the win for the Stormers, who outscored the Bulls by four tries to three.
The Toyota Cheetahs finally hit their stride, after a couple of pre-season wobbles.
The men from Bloemfontein recorded a comfortable 31-6 win over the Pumas in their final Super Rugby warm-up match in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Lions continued their build-up to their Super Rugby return with a 19-12 win over the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
Flanks Jaco Kriel and Derick Minnie crossed for tries in the first 15 minutes to set up the victory for a Lions team that has now beaten the Kings three times in four meetings in the past year.
Springbok wing JP Pietersen made a big impact when he came on as a substitute for the Panasonic Wild Knights in their Japanese league semi-final on Saturday.
Panasonic thrashed the Toshiba Brave Lupus 55-15 to book their spot in the final.
The 2014 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International kicks off on Monday, giving fans their first taste of the new double referee system.
With the new prop jerseys and the ‘Free Catch’ rule enjoying successful debuts in the opening round of Varsity Shield action last week; all eyes will be on the innovation of having two whistlemen on the pitch in the Varsity Cup this season.
Aside from the new law innovations five of the eight teams are being guided by new coaches this season, giving the tournament an even ‘fresher’ feel this year.
Victor Matfield, one of the most decorated players in the history of South African rugby, will make his return to the playing field for the Vodacom Bulls in Vodacom Super, the Blue Bulls Company (Pty) Ltd confirmed on Friday.
Matfield is a former Springbok captain with 110 Test caps behind his name – only John Smit, with 111 caps, has played more Tests for South Africa. He also lead the Vodacom Bulls to all three their Vodacom Super Rugby titles, in 2007, 2009 and 2010.
It is 2 weeks prior to the kick off of 2 brand new Rugby Tournaments and just less than a month away from kick off of the 3rd Tournament – Super Rugby.
We will have SuperBru Widgets up in the Righthand sidebar for these 3 Pools, for easy access to make your PICKS, go to the POOLS and see an abbreviated version of the LOG in each pool (Top 10).
Rugby-Talk SuperBru pools are open to all REGISTERED RUGBY-TALK SUBSCRIBERS, so if you are not yet registered, get clicking man!
As is the custom and the excitement, Rugby-Talk will be taking part in rugby competitions on SuperBru in 2014 again, but at the end of last year we took it a step further, we also formed our own SuperBru Club, the Rugby-Talk.com Club. The Club gives us an added and combined interface, where messages are posted in the “Social Room”, where the current Rugby-Talk Bru Pools are detailed in the “Games Room”, where members are tabled in the “Members Wall” and where medal standings and tables are displayed in the “Trophy Room”.
So, firstly, join up to the 3 NEW POOLS and also join up at the Rugby-Talk.com Club!
The details are as follows:
The Bulls are expected to provide a stern pre-season test for the relatively young Stormers tight five in Polokwane on Saturday.
The versatile Rynhardt Elstadt is the oldest in the Stormers engine room at just 24, although he and loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff have three years of Super Rugby experience whilst Frans Malherbe and Scarra Ntubeni both toured with the Springboks at the end of last year.
It may be the newest rivalry in Super Rugby, but they don’t get much more appetizing and entertaining than the Southern Kings against the Lions.
We can thank the South African Rugby Union and its bungling for creating this delectable showdown for us.
South African referees boss André Watson says two referees on the field is the way forward for world rugby.
Dr. Sherylle Calder, the world-renowned Visual Skills and Performance Specialist joins the Cell C Sharks as a consultant, on a two-year contract, effective immediately.
Corné Steenkamp has put his retirement on hold and will lead the Pumas in a pre-season friendly against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Steenkamp initially announced last year that he would call it a day after almost 150 first class game for the Pumas.
The injured Springbok Sevens duo of Seabelo Senatla and Rosko Specman will return to South Africa and will be replaced by Jamba Ulengo and Kwagga Smith for the Wellington Sevens on 7 – 8 February, the South African Rugby Union (SARU) confirmed on Thursday.
The two wings sustained ankle injuries during last weekend’s Las Vegas Sevens, where the Bok Sevens team won the tournament title for a second successive year. Smith and Ulengo will join the squad on Saturday.
Jake White has, repeatedly in the past, taken teams from the doldrums to the top of their game.
He took the South African Under-21 from being no-hopers to winning a world title, the Springboks from ranked sixth in the world to No.1 and winning a World Cup, and more recently he took the Brumbies from finishing 13th out of 15 teams in 2011 to finalists last year.
Lions coaches, Johan Ackermann and Russel Winter, have named the 2 sides which will face the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth and Polokwane respectively, to take on the Southern Kings and Vodacom Blue Bulls.
Sharks coach Jake White has confirmed that he left London after his team’s friendly match against Saracens last weekend feeling that most of the questions that he was asking had been answered.
Although the team considered by most to be the likely South African flag-bearer in this year’s Vodacom Super Rugby competition lost 23-15 on an inclement northern hemisphere day, White said in his post trip wash-out that he had always told the players to be realistic about what they could expect against the inform English side so early in the new year.
Former Bulls flank CJ Stander has committed to a long-term goal of playing Test rugby for Ireland by signing a two-year contract extension with Munster that will see them stay with the province until June 2016.
Stander joined Munster in October 2012 from Super Rugby side the Bulls and made his debut as a substitute against Scarlets that November at Musgrave Park.
The competition for starting berths for the 2014 Super 15 is hotting up. It is reported that coach Naka Drotské has selected Caylib Oosthuizen to start in the loosehead position ahead of Bok Trevor Nyakane, based on form shown in the prior warm-up matches played.